CLIENT CASE STUDY

Queensland Public Safety Business Agency: Designing the digital public safety agency of the future

Collaboration is key for citizens to take a more active role in public safety operations.

Client Profile

The Public Safety Business Agency (PSBA) was formally established in Queensland, Australia in May 2014 to deliver a range of corporate and business support services to its portfolio agencies which include the Queensland Police Service (QPS), Queensland Fire and Emergency Service (QFES) and the Inspector General, Emergency Management (IGEM). The PSBA also provides information communication technology (ICT) services to the Queensland Ambulance Service.

Overview

The Strategy Division within the PSBA provides strategic advice and support to the Minister, the PSBA, and portfolio agencies to:

Improve business practices and processes within the PSBA and the portfolio

Improve cross-agency coordination and promote a whole-of-portfolio approach to service delivery

Enhance service delivery outcomes and efficiency

Align with whole-of-government policies, priorities and direction

Accenture were engaged by the PSBA from February to May 2016 to create a ten year ICT Strategy and four year ICT investment plan for all portfolio agencies. The strategy will be used for ICT development and investment decisions.

The team at Accenture delivered a high quality product in 14 weeks

LEESA MILLS

Executive Director (Acting), Strategy & Consulting, PSBA

Opportunity

Public safety agencies within Queensland are faced with growing demand for services, pressure to do more with less and evolving public expectations for delivery of digital services that enable citizens to take a more active role in public safety operations.

The PSBA, as the provider of ICT infrastructure and services across all public safety agencies, is in a unique position to enable the delivery of ICT services that are simpler and more effective by identifying opportunities that leverage efficiencies through a portfolio approach.

Solution

Accenture’s proven ICT Strategy approach was used to identify current challenges and priorities facing each agency, develop a target state framework that outlines a common vision, objective and principles for the public safety portfolio and define a four year ICT investment roadmap with associated cost estimates.

The ICT Strategy project allowed PSBA to:

Engage a broad range of senior leaders across the agencies to align current challenges and future priorities into set of common themes

Analyse current ICT capabilities, projects and governance mechanisms to identify potential quick wins and opportunities to drive further efficiencies

Assess global best practices and technology trends to understand their impact on public safety services for Queensland

Facilitate joint agency workshops to enable creation of a common vision, objectives and principles that formed part of a target state framework for the public safety portfolio

Identify a set of investment priorities to align the future technology needs of each agency, aligning dependencies and cost efficiencies through a prioritised roadmap

Results

The ICT Strategy delivered a common framework to guide decision making and align future investment decisions for the public safety portfolio. It recommended a customised approach to provide oversight and governance of future project delivery, whilst maintaining a balance of visibility versus control to ensure specific needs are met. The proposed investment priorities and roadmap provide direction to support the strategic planning and funding requests over the next four years to assist in the delivery of common outcomes for the public safety portfolio.